Ethiopia

Response

For 2024, the Education Cluster is further prioritizing interventions for the most vulnerable experiencing protracted crisis including IDPs, returnees, and non-displaced affected by climate-induced hazards and conflict. Additionally, this plan aims to ensure stronger humanitarian-development coherence by setting foundations for longer-term interventions including supporting the education system to be more crisis-sensitive. This narrative explores the initiatives that are planned to be undertaken by the Education Cluster to address the challenges identified in the HNO and align with the strategic objectives of the Ethiopia HRP.

In the acute phase of a crisis, the Education Cluster plans to mobilize resources to establish temporary learning spaces and/or rehabilitate partially or severely damaged learning facilities, provide emergency school feeding, and accelerate flexible learning opportunities for children experiencing protracted disruptions to schooling.

The first Cluster objective aligns with Strategic Objective 2 of the Ethiopia HRP, providing critical, integrated, and inclusive protection services- as education is, first and foremost, a protection provision. This is done by ensuring learning facilities are equipped and child-friendly, with education personnel trained in psychological first aid, psychosocial support, and referral pathways for other key services. Additionally, awareness raising sessions on health, hygiene, and disaster risk awareness, with children and caregivers, further aim to protect crisis-affected communities.

The second Cluster objective focuses on improving access to learning opportunities for crisis-affected children at all levels, including pre-primary. Resilience building begins at a young age, and improving the coping capacity of families and children themselves is critical to withstand current and future crises. Success at the primary level is strengthened with access to pre-primary learning.
The final Cluster objective aims to keep children connected to learning through flexible, appropriate learning opportunities, whether formal or non-formal. The latter includes remedial support, accelerated education programs which provide equivalent competencies in a condensed period for children who are not in the right grade for their age.

The Education Cluster plan for 2024 aligns with Strategic Objective 3, to support vulnerable people in enhancing their capacity to recover from crises and natural hazards by the end of 2024. Humanitarian partners in education are dedicated to strengthening the resilience of local actors, including regional education authorities, NGOs, CSOs, and faith-based groups. This includes synergies among humanitarian, and development actors integrating conflict-sensitivity, and peacebuilding interventions to ensure all interventions do better. The Cluster is exploring ways to sensitize government and non-government stakeholders on crisis sensitivity and peacebuilding, including through support to women-led/ gender-focused organizations also working in this area.

With these activities in mind, the Education Cluster will target 2.98 million of the most crisis-affected children (28 per cent of the PiN). This figure will include 98 per cent of children out of which 55 per cent are girls and 10 per cent are children with disabilities.

Responses will be prioritized in areas where there is a huge impact of the shocks and where there is a high severity of needs. In addition, accessibility of the affected areas, partner E presence, access to education/access/enrollment and learning conditions have been factored into targeting. Overall, the Education Cluster’s outlined interventions mostly reach beneficiaries directly. Response modalities include cash and vouchers, in-kind assistance, and services, based on the context and needs. This varied approach aims to meet diverse needs efficiently. The overarching goal is to contribute to collective outcomes, fostering resilience and addressing underlying vulnerabilities collaboratively with a range of stakeholders, including local communities, governments, and non-governmental organizations.